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There was mild
drama at the federal secretariat, Abuja, yesterday, when the Minister
of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, arrived at the premises to see
a number of workers locked outside the gates for coming late to work.
The head of service, Stephen Oronsaye, had directed that the doors be
shut against civil servants who come to work after 8.30am.

The lockout was
part of efforts to enforce the strict attendance regime Mr Oronsaye
began a few weeks ago. The gates remained shut for almost three hours
and senior civil servants, including a permanent secretary, were denied
entry until the minister’s arrival led to the opening of the gates. Mr
Wogu, however, denied ordering the gates open, saying the gatemen on
hearing his siren must have flung them open, thus allowing all the
civil servants who had been locked out to rush in.

Fence mending

A spokesman for the
head of the civil service, Tope Ajakaiye, however, tried to diffuse the
tension, saying that Mr Oronsaye had not explicitly directed that the
gates be locked.

“The Head of
Service is merely trying to eradicate late-coming in the service.
Permanent secretaries were told to ensure that their wards came on
time, not that they should lock the gate,” he said.

Mr. Wogu also
claimed that he did not intend to overturn Mr. Oronsaye’s directive,
stating that he was merely trying to get into his office.

“How can I go above what the Head of Service has directed?” he asked.

“The situation is embarrassing. I honestly did not mean for the gates to be opened for everyone,” he said.

The majority of
government ministries and agencies are situated in the wings of the
Federal Secretariat, including the ministries of Power, Niger Delta,
Labour and Productivity, Science and Technology, Aviation and the
office of the Minister of State for Information and Communication.

A pound of flesh

Prior to the labour
minister’s arrival, civil servants loitered around the premises in
groups, discussing their ordeal. Others sat in their cars, reading.

At the Phase II
building of the secretariat, a group of them forced their way in when
it was opened for a high-profile visitor, but those at the Head of
Service side of the secretariat were locked out up till 11am.

One of the workers,
who asked to remain anonymous, said he was not told about the lockout
beforehand. He accused the federal government of being callous, saying
that instead of punishing civil servants, the government should look
for ways of improving workers’ welfare by providing good roads, an
effective transport system and low cost housing estates not far from
the city centre.

“Asking us to come
to work early without considering the reality of the situation on
ground amounts to demanding for a pound of flesh,” he said.

Many civil servants
said their meagre resources and high cost of rent in Abuja, forced them
to make do with accommodation in surrounding towns such as Suleja,
Madalla, Masaka, Kuje, Gwagwalda, and Mararaba. However, the increasing
numbers of people coming from these locations has led to heavy traffic
on the roads.

A female civil
servant, who also declined to be named, said she left her home in
Gwagwalada at 6.30am. “It is accommodation problem,” she said. “We
cannot fly to work; there is hold-up on the road.”

Not just civil servants

Along with civil servants, visitors who came to conduct business at the government offices were also locked out.

Chukwuemeka Onodi,
a pensioner from Enugu State, said he came to register his biometric
information at the Head of Service’s office at the secretariat.

“It is a terrible situation; I never saw this kind of thing while in
service,” he said. “There are other methods of dealing with
latecomers.” Wale Samuel, of the Civil Society Action Coalition on
Education for All (CSACEFA), also condemned the action, calling it
“insensitive.” A visibly furious Mr Samuel said, “Let them go and live
in Nyanya, face AYA holdup then come back and give us the directive.”

Scores of elderly
women from Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State have
relocated to Calabar, the state capital, protesting that last
Saturday’s council election conducted in the state did not hold at
Erei, their community , hence no result can be declared for the council
wards there.

Led by an
octogenarian, the women (some of whom were half nude) said the
landslide victory ascribed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
candidates was a fluke, as no voting took place at Erei. Some of the
women flaunted their breasts in anger, claiming “soldiers and mobile
policemen were used by card carrying members of the PDP to hijack
election materials”.

The protest took
the women to the headquarters of the Cross River State Independent
Electoral Commission (CROSIEC), who arrived just when the chairman of
the commission, Patrick Otu, was announcing the second set of results.
From the commission’s secretariat on Bishop Monagh Avenue, Calabar, the
women thereafter marched to the Governor’s Office on a similar mission.

The women were accompanied by Frank Owali, the APGA chairmanship candidate for the area.

With anger on their
faces, the elderly women, numbering over 50, chanted war songs
denouncing the council polls and called for fresh elections, especially
in Biase, as the people there did not exercise their franchise. No
official of the CROSIEC came out to address them.

The
placard-carrying women said since they were denied the opportunity to
vote, they could not vote for candidates of their choice. They called
on the state governor, Liyel Imoke, to prevail on the leadership of the
CROSIEC to reschedule the Biase Local Government council elections, as
voting materials, including result sheets for the area were allegedly
carted away by some influential PDP members in the area.

Arrested and detained

Leader of the Erei
women, Gloria Ekor Owali also stated that some of their children were
arrested and detained at the state police headquarters, Diamond Hill in
Calabar, over Saturday’s polls, for protesting the hijack of their
ballots. They accused Emil Inyang, the chairman of the Biase Local
Government who has been re-elected for a second term, and Alex Ukam,
the lawmaker representing the area in the House of Representatives, of
using armed soldiers and mobile policemen to prevent the electorate in
the area from choosing those they wanted as chairman and councillors
for the area.

“We came out to
vote, but we did not see materials, yet they have written results,
declaring Emil Inyang winner,” the protesting women said. “If this is
what electoral reforms is all about, it then means Nigeria is not yet
ready for true democracy.” They said about 67 armed soldiers,
accompanied by 12 mobile policemen in two trucks, allegedly invaded
their communities, led by some stalwarts of the PDP, to arrest people
who were perceived to be working against the PDP.

The women,
therefore, appealed to the state Commissioner of Police to release
their children whom they said were wrongly arrested.

The Erei women,
during their protest to the governor’s office, urged Mr Imoke to
prevail on the authorities of the 13 Amphibious Brigade, Nigerian Armed
Forces Calabar and the state Commissioner of Police to release their
children from detention, as “they are not criminals”.

Nigeria will
continue to work with Mali and other member-countries of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure the speedy
realization of the sub-regional organisation’s objectives, Goodluck
Jonathan said yesterday in Abuja.

Speaking during an
audience with Mali’s new Ambassador to Nigeria, Mahamane Amadou Maiga,
who was at the Presidential Villa to present his letters of credence,
Mr Jonathan said his administration will give “maximum cooperation” to
ambassadors of ECOWAS member-countries in the collective effort to
achieve greater economic integration and development in West Africa.

“Nigeria and Mali
have a lot in common,” he said. “We all have to work together to
strengthen our political and economic ties. We will give you maximum
cooperation to ensure that our sub-region moves forward,” the
president, who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads
of State and Government, told Mr Maiga.

At an earlier
audience with Nestor Padalhin, the new ambassador of the Philippines to
Nigeria, Mr Jonathan stated that the existing cordial relations between
Nigeria and the Philippines could be further strengthened with
increased bilateral trade.

The new ambassadors
thanked President Jonathan for receiving them soon after their arrival
in the country and assured him that they will do their best to enhance
existing relations between Nigeria and their countries.

They also used the opportunity to congratulate the president on Nigerian’s forthcoming 50th independence anniversary.

Ado Bayero, the
Emir of Kano, is among several individuals and corporate organizations
nominated for this year’s Green Award, Chairman of the Green Award
organizing committee, Ayegbeni Omonhimi, said yesterday in Benin.

Mr Omonhimi, who
paid a visit to the Edo State Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu, said the
idea behind the award is to sensitize Nigerians to be environmentally
conscious and safeguard our natural heritage.

He said the awards
are given to individuals and organizations that were environment
friendly, and for their immense contributions to the conservation of
ecological resources.

Mr Odubu, who
described the proposed award as an essential motivation to the
awardees, however, advised against building the gesture around serving
politicians whose positions are transient.

The Deputy Governor
observed that identifying politicians with the Green Award could create
the impression that it is politically engineered, and may discourage
rival politicians from being part of the event.

The national award
will be given to Mr Bayero; while the International Award goes to the
president of Friends of the Earth Worldwide, Nimmo Bassey.

Other recipients are Olayinka Omoregbe, (International Award);
Awake! and Watchtower magazines, (published by Jehovah’s Witnesses),
nominated for the International Media Award, and Catherine Oronsaye for
the Inner City Award.

The Lagos State
government, last week, warned officers against dereliction in the
treatment of official correspondence and files, just as it advised
ministries and agencies to reduce their line of reporting for effective
service delivery.

This was contained in a circular issued on August 25 by the head of service, Adesegun Ogunlewe.

In a bid to make
the civil service more efficient, the state government issued a
directive early this year giving officers in the state public service
48 hours within which to treat and complete assignments on
correspondence and files.

The HOS, however,
observed that the long line of reporting system adopted in most
ministries and agencies of government where supervising officer minutes
assignment to subordinate officers, who in turn minute the same
assignment to two or more low ranking officers, was not only causing
undue delay in the treatment of correspondence but also made it
difficult to track officers responsible for any delay.

This long chain of
command, according to Mr Ogunlewe, “is rendering the 48 hours deadline
on completion of assignments ineffective and of little or no
significance.”

He, therefore,
advised supervising officers to reduce the line of reporting in their
respective MDAs and take steps to put appropriate tracking mechanism in
place.

According to him,
“supervising officers are enjoined to cultivate the habit of minuting
mails and files to a particular officer in charge of a given
responsibility for effective action, rather than passing it down a
chain of command.”

In order not to
leave room for any lapse, he further added that in the absence of the
head of the MDAs, mails and files should be handled by the next most
senior officer, in accordance with the laid down regulations.

Mr. Ogunlewe warned
that any form of ineptitude or outright dereliction of duty on the part
of supervising and subordinate officers in the treatment of official
correspondence and files would attract appropriate sanctions.

A group of young men in Lafia, Nasarawa State,
launched a violent protest on Tuesday over the sudden removal of street
lamps in their neighbourhood.

On Monday night, men claiming to be under the
direction of Mustapha Agwai, the Emir of Lafia, removed the street
lamps in the Tudun Amba area of the city. The move roused the anger of
the local youth, who barricaded the road leading to the governor’s
house.

Manyi Adamu, who was among the protesters, said that
the road will remain closed until those who removed the lights replaced
them.

“The light has been helping the community, preventing
the prevalence of accidents at this junction,” he said. “Only for these
men to come and begin to remove them.”

The managing director of the Nasarawa Urban Development Board
(NUBD), Jafaru Ango, arrived on the scene to calm the young men. He
explained that the lamp posts were removed in preparation for the
expansion of the Lafia-Doma road. He pledged that as soon as the work
was completed, the street lamps would be replaced.

Academic and economic activities yesterday stood
still for several hours at the University of Benin and the entire
Ugbowo area of Benin City as students of the university, particularly
those from the College of Medicine, protested the non accreditation of
the faculty and that of dentistry by the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria (MDCN).

The students, who numbered several thousands, refused
to speak or talk to journalists until they meet with the vice
chancellor of the university, Oyuki Oshodin. The few who volunteered
comments said those of their colleagues who are to graduate in few
weeks’ time would not get their licence to practice as medical doctors
and dentists, despite the more than seven years they had spent in the
school.

“It is sad that the school authority had shown a
nonchalant attitude to our plight,” one of the students said, adding
that her colleagues are in despair over the future of their education.

Vehicular and human traffic along Ugbowo/Lagos road
were blocked by the protesters, even though the protest was peaceful.
It, however, made travelers to go through a hectic time finding their
way out of the city.

When NEXT visited the school premises, the entrance
gate was closed. The vice chancellor was also prevented from coming out
of the premises. The camera man attached to DBN Television was
manhandled by the visibly angry students who refused to say anything to
journalists.

When contacted on phone, Osaze Osarenren, public
relations officer of the university, said the students protested out of
ignorance, as the school had already put machineries in motion to meet
the demands of the MDCN.

“It was suspension of accreditation and they gave us
12 months to put those things right, and if we didn’t do, they can now
sanction us,” he said.

“We have been meeting with the ministry of education
on this matter, and things are being put in place. Before the end of
the ongoing examination, which is not even the finals, all these things
would be done. In fact, the vice chancellor and some senior officials
are airborne on Arik Air (3.05 pm) to Abuja on the same matter,” he
said.

Medical council seeks intervention

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA), yesterday, in a statement signed by its chairman,
Philip Ugbodaga; secretary, Emmanuel Ighodaro; and public relations
officer, Kennedy Alohan, urged the council of the university and that
of Igbinedion University, which was also affected, to quickly meet the
demands of the MDCN so as not to create vacuum in the profession.

“As a responsible association, we support efforts by
the council at ensuring the maintenance of standards in medical
education in Nigeria Universities. The loss of accreditation by these
universities to train doctors has very serious implications for the
already comatose health sector in our state and country,” the council
said.

“We, therefore, call on the authorities of the affected universities
and the respective heads of the colleges of medical sciences to work
very closely with the MDCN, with a view to quickly addressing the
issues that led to this unfortunate situation,” it said.